Garden State Times

There were 322 deaths with heart disease listed as the underlying cause reported in New Jersey during the week ending October 30, a 0.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 1,549 deaths in the state. 20.8 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 19.5 percent were from cancer and 13.2 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 8.1 percent of deaths were from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Studies show doctors and medical examiners may underreport Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related conditions as the underlying cause of death on death certificates, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Once infected, older adults with dementia are likely to develop a more severe and dangerous illness. The diseases which make an older adult more vulnerable to COVID-19 are age-associated chronic conditions, according to the Bright Focus Foundation.

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Heart disease	322	319
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	302	296
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	106	113
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	99	102
Cerebrovascular diseases	72	58
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	53	43
Alzheimer's disease	49	48
Diabetes mellitus	37	41
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	29	28
Influenza and pneumonia	24	22

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	126	124